Disfigured
by Muuntoo
Summary: 'I hated all of it, everything that was there, staring back at me from in the mirror. It had started off with me just hating my nose, which had been fine until he broke it...'


As I stood there, staring into the bathroom mirror I frowned. I gently trailed a finger down my nose, wincing slightly more out of habit now; it didn't hurt anymore after all. People always tell me its fine, but I don't believe them. They all say the same thing, that it 'looks fine' and then they tell me to stop complaining; they'd complain too if someone ruined their good looks. I stood there staring at myself for a little longer before I let out a sob, tears filling my eyes.

I hated all of it, everything that was there, staring back at me from in the mirror. It had started off with me just hating my nose, which had been fine until _he _broke it. _He_ used to be my friend, now I hate him for what he did to me. The more I had to listen to people telling me it was fine, when it wasn't, the more I started worrying and becoming paranoid that it wasn't just my nose that was ruined; that the rest of me was disfigured and ugly too.

My dark hair, my face; especially my nose, even my blue eyes which I hated for betraying me whenever I was trying to act like everything was indeed ok. People always seemed to see the sadness in them, which often led to tears flowing, like they were now. Why did no one understand that the tears weren't because I was upset by what they said; but because they didn't even bother trying to understand what I was going through?

I looked away from the mirror, swearing as I started angrily pacing in the small bathroom of the hotel room I was staying in and pulled the hood of my jacket up to hide my face in shadows after glancing at the mirror again. I realised I was mumbling as I paced, but I barely even recognised the words that came out, even though I was speaking in English.

My friends who'd seen me like this before always said I was so far gone in my paranoia and what they claimed was depression to even recognise my surroundings; one had even told me that I hadn't responded to a single thing they'd said to me for almost an hour.

I suddenly stopped pacing and turned angrily back to the mirror, glaring at my reflection again before suddenly punching the mirror, screaming as the mirror shattered, cutting my hand. I leaned against the wall, sliding down it until I was sitting on the bathroom floor, sobbing as I stared at my bleeding hand. I lost track of time as I sat there in tears, only paying attention again when I heard someone opening the door to the room.

"Cody?"

I knew who it was as soon as they called out to me, but I still didn't respond.

"Cody? I heard something break before; was that you? …Cody?"

He must have called out again when he didn't see me anywhere in the main room. I listened as his footsteps grew louder as he came closer to the bathroom. I heard the door open, but still didn't look up.

"What happened?" He asked. I knew he'd look at me before anything else in the room.

There was a silence as he looked around the room and I heard a gasp. He must have only just noticed the blood that had started dripping onto the floor.

"W-What did you…?" He asked before stopping, having obviously figured out what happened. "Why Cody…?"

When I didn't answer, I heard him sigh before he kneeled beside me after grabbing a towel off a shelf that was beside the shower. He wrapped the towel around my bleeding hand before pulling me into a hug.

"Teddy…" I managed to finally say before starting to sob again. No one had hugged me in a long time; I'd almost forgotten how good it felt.

"It's ok Codes, I'm here…"

"No…" I said, still sobbing. "Y-You're never around to talk to me anymore Ted. You're always with _Maryse_…" I told him, saying the French Canadian's name in a way that made it obvious I hated her.

There was another silence as he took in what I said.

"I'm so sorry Codes..." Teddy said softly, hugging me tighter. "A-Are you ok…?" He asked quietly, obviously not thinking before doing so.

"My hand is bleeding because I punched a mirror and my best friend is never here when I need him; even though he knows he's the only one who even tries to understand, let alone listen to me…so what do you think?" I asked him, slowly looking up to see him frowning.

"I'm sorry…" He said again, slowly reaching a hand out to pull back the hood that was still hiding my face.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked quietly, going to turn away out of habit as he stared down at me.

"Cody stop it…" Teddy said as he gently grabbed my chin, stopping me from looking away.

I went to raise my uninjured hand instead to hide my face, but Teddy used his other hand to grab my wrist, stopping me. I whimpered and closed my eyes, though it didn't help much, knowing he was still staring.

"Codes…come on, please… Just look at me…"

"No. You _stop_ looking at me…"

"Damn it Cody, please…there's nothing wrong with you…" Huh. When Teddy says it, I almost actually believe it…

I slowly opened my eyes, forcing myself not to close them again when I saw he was still looking at me. As he kept staring at me, instead of hiding my face like I usually would, I ended up blushing. I'd never told him, but I'd cared about Teddy as more than a friend for a while now, only he's with Maryse…

After another minute or so, I ended up reacting how I usually would lately to people looking at me and turned my head away from him, the sudden action making him let go of my face.

"Don't do this Cody come on…It's me; you know I'm not going to judge you…or whatever it is you worry about." He told me. "Look at me Codes."

I hesitated before slowly doing as he said, confused.

"Now see, do I look like I'm judging you at all? You know I only attacked you on the show as part of a storyline…right?"

As I looked into his eyes, I realised they didn't have the cold look the paranoia I'd developed made me assume everyone had; instead, Ted's eyes showed…concern? So he really does still care then, even if he's never here.

"Teddy…" I said, letting out a sob as tears filled my eyes again. "I-I'm sorry, I…"

"It's ok Cody, calm down." He said softly, hugging me again.

I buried my face against his chest as I cried; feeling terrible for thinking my best friend didn't care. I barely even noticed him unwrapping the towel to check on my hand.

"We should get this looked at you know…"

"Why…? Is it still bleeding?" I asked him.

"No, but it looks like it hurts…" Teddy said, sounding worried.

Now that he mentioned it; it was actually hurting, a lot. "Ow…"

Ted chuckled. "Did you really only just notice? Oh Cody were you really that out of it again?" He asked me softly, making me blush again as he brushed a hand through my hair.

I nodded, slowly moving the fingers of my injured hand, hissing at the pain. I looked down at it and realised there were more cuts than I had assumed there would be. Frowning, I looked back up at Teddy, who was staring at me with that concerned look again.

"Teddy…? What are you doing…?" I asked as he ran his fingers across the still healing cut on my head from when Orton hit me with the ring bell the other week.

"Just relax; you need to stop worrying about everything so much…" He told me.

"How can I when _he_ ruined me…?" I asked, frowning at him.

"Codes; Rey didn't ruin you…"

"He did too-" I went to argue, but he cut me off.

"Stop it Cody. There is _nothing_ wrong with you; besides the paranoia that there is. Yes Rey hurt your nose, but it's better now…" He told me, running his hand through my hair again; something he never normally did, even when I was upset.

"There's…nothing wrong with me…?" I asked slowly, actually starting to believe it.

"No, there's not Cody…at least not to me there isn't…" He said, suddenly sounding nervous for some reason.

"Wait…what?" I asked; confused by what he'd said. I looked back up at him and realised his cheeks were red. "Teddy?"

"I…um…" He said, looking nervous as I watched him.

"Why _are_ you with Maryse?" I suddenly decided to ask him. "…do you even like her?"

"I…" Teddy said nervously, looking away from me before he spoke again. "No I don't like her."

"Then why are you with her?" I asked him quietly; something I'd wanted to ask for a while now. I'm sure I looked nervous during the silence that followed…

"Because…" Ted finally said; speaking slowly. "I thought if I asked you…you'd say no…"

"Oh…" Was my answer, until I actually realised what he said. "Wait. What?" I asked, blushing when he smiled. I blushed more at the smile and quickly looked away to hide it.

"Damn it…How did I not realise?" He mumbled.

"Realise what?" I asked, not really paying attention, until I felt a hand on my cheek. He lifted my head gently, so that I was looking at him and I couldn't help but stare at him even though I was sure my face was bright red by now.

"How long have you liked me Codes…?"

"Well we've been friends for years, having grown up together…" I said with a smirk.

"Cody you know that's not what I…" Teddy said, stopping and sighing. "Never mind; it doesn't matter…" He added before kissing my cheek. "What's wrong?" He asked, sounding worried after I flinched and pulled away from him.

"Sorry…" I mumbled. "You…you just…I wasn't expecting it." I told him, closing my eyes as I tried not to hate myself for being so nervous.

"Don't do that…" I heard Teddy say, his voice softer than usual. "I know what you're doing; you have that same frown you do when you think people are staring at you…Just relax Cody." He ran his hand through my hair again before resting his hand on my cheek.

I leaned into the touch, a small smile on my face. Having wanted it for so long, the simple touch was enough to make me relax; something I'd barely been able to do at all since my nose had been broken, always being paranoid.

"See, now that's better…" Teddy said softly, his free hand wrapping around me as he pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry Cody, I'm here to help you…I'm gonna take care of you and make you better…"

"Thank you Teddy…" I said quietly. I gladly hugged him back, nodding and smiling at what he said; then whimpered as I remembered my hand was injured again, pain shooting through it because I moved my arm to hug him.

"We should go get that looked at." Teddy said, slowly letting me go. "Come on." He said, helping me up. I nodded and smiled again as he put an arm around my shoulders; blushing when he kissed my cheek again before leading me from the room.


End file.
